38 khz Universal Infrared Receiver

Description
The 1838B is miniaturized infrared receivers for remote control and other applications requiring improved ambient light rejection.
The separate PIN diode and preamplifier IC are assembled on a single leadframe.
The epoxy package contains a special IR filter.
This module has excellent performance even in disturbed ambient light applications and provides protection against uncontrolled output pulses.
Features
• Photo detector and preamplifier in one package .
• Internal filter for PCM frequency.
• Inner shield, good anti-interference ability.
• High immunity against ambient light.
• Improved shielding against electric field disturbance
• 5.0V supply voltage; low power consumption.
• TTL and CMOS compatibility.
• Suitable transmission code:NEC code,RC5 code.
Applications:
1. Optical switch
2. Light detecting portion of remote control
• AV instruments such as Audio,TV,VCR,CD,MD,DVD,etc.
• Home appliances such as Air-conditioner,Fan,etc.
• CATV set top boxes
• Multi-media Equipment

The IR receiver can be powered at anywhere from 2.5V to 5.5V, so it plays very nicely with a variety of development boards.

This module is tuned to demodulate 38kHz signals, which are a very common in the IR signal world. It turns a spiky, modulated signal like this:

Into this a cleaner, much easier to read signal like this:

So all we have to do to read the output of this device is count high and low pulses, and measure their durations. For more information on the VS1838 , check out its datasheet.